October 24-28, 2016 Declared Pat Conroy Week!

SIBA invites its bookstore members, and independent bookstores across the country, to celebrate a great Southern writer, and encourage their customers to support the Pat Conroy Literary Center.

Anyone who makes at least a $41 donation to the Pat Conroy Literary Center during "Pat Conroy Week" will be entered into a raffle to win a full set of the winners and finalists of the 2016 Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize. Forty-one books!

We invite the nation of booksellers to join us in celebrating Pat Conroy Week! Pat Conroy’s new book from publisher Nan A. Talese/Doubleday will drop on October 25th. Pat Conroy Week will celebrate the new book – A Lowcountry Heart: Reflections on a Writing Life plus other titles: The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini, Beach Music, The Water is Wide, The Lords of Discipline, The Death of Santini, South of Broad, My Losing Season, The Boo, Unrooted Childhoods, and The Mayor. And then there is the book about Pat: Understanding Pat Conroy Patand Conversations with the Conroys and books by Pat’s daughter Melissa Conroy and wife Cassandra King. Not to mention Story River Books (an imprint of USC Press) where Pat served as editor. It seems the whole store could be a display to “All Things Conroy” during Pat Conroy Week. And Pat Conroy’s birthdate is October 26. Let there be cake.

Plus, if all that weren't enough, A Lowcountry Heart is a 2016 Fall Okra Pick!

We all know Pat’s final instruction – “March forth.” And so we go forth in the creation of the Pat Conroy Literary Center (PCLC). The cornerstone of Pat Conroy Week is an outreach to Pat’s fans with an opportunity to support the PCLC and at the same time, be entered for a chance to win the 41 titles that make up the Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize Short List for 2016.

Coming soon in the October RED BOX from the American Booksellers Association is a wrapped stack of ten brochures (and info for requesting more) promoting PCLC and Pat Conroy Week to your customers. We hope you will find Pat Conroy Week a great way to connect with customers, support PCLC and sell some books. Hey, out there, march forth, celebrate books, birthdays, and Mr. Conroy during Pat Conroy Week.

The Contest:

It comes down to this. Donate at least $41 to the PCLC during Pat Conroy Week at be entered to win a stack of 41 books. The entire collection of Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize winners and finalists -- including cookbooks, novels, thrillers, literary fiction, histories, nonfiction, young adult, children's books -- the very best of Southern literature for the year.

Follow #PatConroyWeek and use the hashtag to promote the contest, the PCLC, and your own store displays and specials.

Ideas:

A special session on PCLC and Pat Conroy Week was held during the SIBA Discovery Show in Savannah. Here are some of the ideas booksellers came up with to promote Pat Conroy Week to their customers:

Raise money by selling a $5 raffle ticket to win a copy of a 1st edition of Pat’s new book A Lowcountry Heart

If you have any signed Conroy books, post photos of the page with his autograph

Create a Facebook Page just for your customers' Pat Conroy memories to be posted

Host a Birthday Party on the 26th Pat’s Birthday and display information about the Center so your customers can donate

Book Club Outreach - read a Pat Conroy book for the month

Book Festival idea - raffle for seat next to Cassandra King at lunch/dinner

For both New & Used Bookstores - if you offer $1/sale donated to charity, make PCLC the recipient for the week or even the month.

Encourage your customers to tell their stories about Pat, video or written, and post on store website

Host a Shoe Burnin' Show in honor of Pat Conroy. Contact Shari Smith at shari@workingtitlefarm.com

Materials

In this season's Okra Box, stores will find a poster promoting the Book Prize raffle, and a stack of brochures stores can hand out to their customers. PDF versions of both are available for download below, along with some shareable memes for social media.

"There are enigmas buried inside you in the deepest waters. Whether they be angels or moray eels, whether they be godlike or demonic, it is your job to discover them for yourself and no one else."